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June 12 2006

American Vine-Dresser’s Guide pg 17 -18

In this excerpt of the The American Vine-Dresser’s Guide by John James Dufour, the first North American book on the cultivation of grapes and winemaking in 1826, Dufour continues in the first chapter to give context to his travels throughout the eastern U.S. looking for suitable places to grow grapes.

In thetime of Julius Caesar, about 600 years before the Christian era,there were no grapes growing yet in Switzerland,called then Helvetia; and, probably, none in thewhole of Gaul; for aSwiss blacksmith, having crossed the Alps into Italy, whencehe brought back to his native country, some grapes and somefigs. The whole nation of the Swissundertook to emigrate intothat desirable country, where such fruit was growing, after havingset fire to their towns and villages; but were repulsed by JuliusCaesar on the passage of the Alps, as, indeed, they were again inattempting, to cross the river Saone and go round the Alps by Nice.

Theprecise epoch when grapes first appeared in the United States, is not easilyascertained: ifa few vines, planted here and there in gardens, or even themaking of a little wine, for one or two years, and afterwardsabandoned, could be counted for the beginning of the culture of the grape, andmaking of Wine in the United States, it may be traced back very near to thebeginning of the establishment of the whites on this side of the Atlantic. Butnone of the different and numerous trials which were made inseveral parts of the United States that Ivisited after my arrival in 1796, were found worth the name of vineyards. Allof them, except the vines planted in the gardens of the cities of NewYork and Philadelphia, and about a dozen ofplants in the vineyard of Mr. Legaux at Spring mill, near the latter place,did not suffice to pay for one half of their attendance. I went to see all thevines growing that I could hear of, even as far as Kaskaskia, on the borders ofthe Mississippi; because I was told, by an inhabitant of thattown, whom I met with at Philadelphia, that the Jesuits had there a verysuccessful vineyard, when that country belonged to the French, and wereafter-wards ordered by the French government to destroyit, for fear the culture of the grapes should spread in America andhurt the wine trade of France.

As Ihad seen but discouraging plantations of vines on that side of the Alleghany, andas the object of my journey to America, was purposely to learn what could bedone in that line of business; I was_.desirous to see if the westwould afford more encouragement.

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June 12 2006

New World

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June 12 2006

The Yo-Yo Ma of Wine

I have my weekly post on Wine Sediments today.

Tom Wark at Fermentation had a post on his site on Friday that got my wheels turning. Essentially, his post was a pithy overview on how to get an education in wine. While at once humorous and daunting, at the end of the day learning about wine is a long road--an enjoyable road, but long, indeed.

What if our kids learned about wine (and responsible alcohol consumption) at the same time they were learning other developmental skills--like soccer, for example. If so, would you have the next child prodigy on your hands? Would their knowledge be so advanced to that of their peers who discover wine in their early twenties that they might be able to ascend to the wine inner circle? Certainly your odds would be better in wine then in soccer based on competition alone, right?

My article today on Wine Sediments is more frothy than what I’m describing here. But, please don’t share my secret ... my unborn child is going to be the Tiger Woods of wine ... a verifiable prodigy born to make a difference in the world of wine ... the Yo-Yo Ma of wine ... you can read it here.

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June 9 2006

New World

Inspired by this bit of madcap lunacy from our friends across the pond. From Decanter magazine:

Singer-turned-winemaker Cliff Richard has been duped into slamming his own wine as ‘tainted and insipid’ on a TV programme.

Richard’s nemesis was the outspoken super-chef Gordon Ramsay, on whose show The F-Word Richard was appearing as a guest.

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June 9 2006

The Art of Storytelling in Wine

One of the magazines I enjoy the most--the one I set aside time for and devour cover to cover is Saveur. If it came out weekly, I’d probably have to call it a hobby because it would take up that much time.

Why is this magazine so good? The editorial slant AND writing style.

This is a magazine that is for food and wine lovers without any pretension, and presents the world’s table in a truly, "The World is Flat" manner.

But, even better than the editorial style is the writing--it mixes a narrative and travelogue approach to its audience about its subjects that transports you there. It’s armchair magazine reading at its finest.

The reason I bring this up is that I see a lot of wineries that could take this approach in their marketing--a commonsensical, whisper in the ear approach that states the blessed abundance of the wine lifestyle without the glossy veneer--both for the marketing and the wine--especially the wine.

The Internet is ablaze with information about storytelling as a vehicle to convey your marketing message and Alder at Vinography has an excellent post that runs along the same lines. You can find it here and excerpted below:

This wine, of course, comes from the Grand Cru section of thatconfusingly named vineyard, which sits on the sloping hills at the baseof the Grand Ballon and the Petit Ballon, the two highest peaks of theVosges mountain range. Here, a outcroppings of limestone are coveredwith varying levels of clay soil which comes from the fine silt thateroded from this mountain range over the past few million years. Onthese soils the Muré family farms its Riesling, as well as, unusually,Pinot Noir. Vine densities are kept very high in the vineyard (4,000 orso vines per acre) and all the vineyards are farmed biodynamically.

This wine, like all of the Domaine’s whites, is hand harvested andfermented with natural yeasts, aged on the lees (the yeast and otherbits of sediment from the fermentation process) for some time, and thenbottled with minimal to no filtration.

Alder makes the point, basically, that the interest is in the details and in the narrative--and that can carry over to the tasting notes.

An interesting analogy to what works well, in my estimation, are the DaVinci Code illustrated books that have come out over the last year--these have pictures of the paintings and the locations referenced with graphical representations for administrivia items. In a world (fictional or otherwise) that can be confusing, it’s all about the context and the context in the framework of a narrative is even better.

It’s really easy, it would seem. The world communicates around stories and anecdotes, and here’s hoping that more wineries continue to do so, while neglecting the lifestyle veneer that fades so fast. If you want further reading, you can find a good article here.

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